William Priestly (circa 1827-1898) arrived in Lawrence, Kansas around 1871 or 1872 from Ohio and Indiana. He is registered in the city directories as both a farmer and a lawyer and had homes in Lawrence and Baldwin City, moving to Baldwin during the summer months. He also served as a quartermaster during the Civil War.

Priestly married Ellen Lingo on Oct. 9, 1855 in Noble County, Ohio. The date of Ellen (Lingo) Priestly's birth is not known. She died around 1916. The couple had nine children: Lane, Joseph, Nellie, Will, George, Carrie, John, James, and Gertrude.

Lane Priestly (1858-1860) was born in in Sarahsville, Ohio. Joseph Priestly (1860-1880) was born in Caldwell, Ohio and attended the University of Kansas. He died in South America, possibly of yellow fever, around 1880.

Nellie Priestly Bean (1863-1953) was born in Caldwell, Ohio. She married Dr. James Bean and they had no children, spending much of their time in Alaska.

Will "Willie" Priestly (1866-1946) was born near Columbus, Ohio and died in New York. Will married Anna Freeborn in 1905 and they did not have any children. He was a farmer and consulting engineer.

George Priestly (1868-1942) was born in Delaware, Indiana. He was an accountant for a mining firm in Canada. He married Nellie Boicourt and they had three children: Joseph (died of diphtheria as an infant); Willard (married Rose, died 1979); Dorothy (married J.D. Stokes, had two children, Jimmy and Ann). Nellie (Boicourt) Priestly died around 1909.

Carolina “Carrie” Priestly Yates (1871-1908) was born in Douglas County, Kansas and attended KU, receiving a degree in 1892 in pharmacy. She was a pharmacist at Yates Pharmacy in Latham, Kansas. She married Frank Yates in 1903 and had a daughter Nellie in 1906 in Lawrence. Carrie died, supposedly of a tubular pregnancy, and Frank remarried to a Louise in 1912. Carrie and Frank's daughter, Nellie, married James "Jew" Willis Holmes (1903-1955).

John Priestly (1873-1874) was born in Baldwin or Lawrence, Kansas and died in infancy. James Priestly (1878-1924) graduated from KU in 1900 with a degree in engineering. He worked as an engineer, for a time in South America, and as an architect. He married Jessie and had no children.

Gertrude "Dewey" Frances Priestly (1880-1971) lived at the family home in Lawrence all her life. She graduated from KU in 1906 and was a schoolteacher.